


Wordless Secrets on a Starry Night

by sstarrymorningss



Series: Cosmic Confessions [3]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, One Shot, Stargazing, just pure fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 11:53:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14164272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sstarrymorningss/pseuds/sstarrymorningss
Summary: “Tell me something you’ve never told anyone.” While Betty seemed to be struggling with words, an avalanche of them crashed into Jughead’s thoughts at her request.You are all of my waking thoughts and every dream I’ve ever had and there is not one single thing I would change about you, not in a million years.The darkness in you is blacker than the night sky but there is so much hope in you. Even the stars pale in comparison to the light of your soul.I can’t remember a time before you and the thought of something after you causes me more pain than I could ever begin to describe.“I’m afraid.”





	Wordless Secrets on a Starry Night

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning on writing another part in this series but here we are. I really hope this makes you feel as wistful and other-worldly as it has made me.

Betty couldn’t find the right word to describe how she was feeling as she lay on her back and looked up toward the heavens, soaking up the blanket of stars which seemed to stretch endlessly in every direction. The cool metal under her back wasn’t unwelcome on such a warm night, the summer heat yet to burn off despite the sun having disappeared hours ago. There was a cool breeze which made an appearance as it pleased but it wasn’t quite enough to fight off the layer of sweat that was threatening to show on her forehead. 

 

Content wasn’t quite the right word. It didn’t account for the lone butterfly that seemed to enjoy dancing around her stomach or that indescribable sense that the world was a whole lot bigger than it seems and there are so many possibilities left to explore. 

 

Whimsical was getting slightly closer but it still wasn’t a close enough fit for her liking. Whimsical made her think of fairytales and made up creatures and while the night did have a magical quality to it, there was something so unequivocally real that the word didn’t seem to encapsulate.

 

Because if Betty was being honest with herself - as she almost always was - she would realise that this was the most alive she had felt in a long time. Lying there on her roof as time seemingly passed her by left her feeling that certain way that the English language didn’t seem to be able to explain, the one and only time words had ever failed her. 

 

The rhythmic clunk of metal on metal brought Betty out of her thoughts and back to the present. A familiar face slowly emerged from the edge of the roof, letting that lone butterfly that had taken up residence in her stomach rest as he looked at her with that soft smile that always  _ always  _ made her melt right into him without a second thought. She lay back down and listened to the sounds he made as he pulled himself off the ladder and walked over to her. Jughead lay down beside her and carefully slid an arm under her head, offering it as a pillow which she gratefully accepted. 

 

“Tell me a secret.” Her voice was soft and low, almost as if she was trying not to disturb the peace that seemed to have replaced the oxygen in the air, a calming force that seeped further and further into her with every breath she took.

 

“What kind of secret?” His tone matched hers; soft and low as the breeze made a sudden appearance and decided to play with the hem of Betty’s dress. They lay silently as she tried to figure out how to phrase her response. Words didn’t seem to be on her side tonight.

 

“Tell me something you’ve never told anyone.” While Betty seemed to be struggling with words, an avalanche of them crashed into Jughead’s thoughts at her request. 

 

_ You are all of my waking thoughts and every dream I’ve ever had and there is not one single thing I would change about you, not in a million years.  _

 

_ The darkness in you is blacker than the night sky but there is so much hope in you. Even the stars pale in comparison to the light of your soul. _

 

_ I can’t remember a time before you and the thought of something after you causes me more pain than I could ever begin to describe.  _

 

“I’m afraid.” The truth behind his words was so heavy that he’d never be able to carry it alone but he cared about her too much to let her share the load. This was his burden to bear, one he’d keep close to his chest to ensure it didn’t bury her when it inevitably broke down. 

 

“Afraid of what?” 

 

_ Eternity. Things which exist after us and will never have the faintest clue that we ever walked this earth or breathed this air. The great unknown and the unlimited possibilities which could fill it keep me up at night. _

 

_ The darkness that you are so incredible at keeping at bay. It preys on me too and I try so hard to shine bright enough to blind it but sometimes it’s not enough and it won’t go away until you’re standing with me, holding me together.  _

 

_ You. You could destroy me without so much as a single word and it terrifies me that I’ve given you that power but I truly don’t think I want it back. The thought of losing you frightens me more than anything else and the reason I hold on so tight is because I can’t let you slip through my fingers. Not like everyone else has. _

 

“Jellybean’s cat.” Betty scoffed at his answer, a suppressed laugh which somehow managed to escape and ends in them both laughing into the warm night, no longer worried about disturbing the peace because they both feel safe in the arms of the other. 

 

“What? It’s a fucking terrifying cat. Have you seen it’s eyes? They’re black nothingness and it feels like it’s always watching me.” Jughead shivered for emphasis and drew another laugh from her lips, a sound he wishes he could bottle up and keep forever because nothing will ever make him feel calmer. 

 

Betty nods her head in agreement, snuggling closer to him as she keeps her gaze trained on the stars. Her hand falls across his stomach as her head rests against his chest, the golden tones of her hair somehow glowing and Jughead finds himself thinking that he’d rather look at Betty than up at the stars any day.

 

“What’s your secret?” He speaks softly, sensing the change in mood as his hand reaches up to her hair, carding through it and admiring the way it spread out across his shirt. 

 

_ You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me and the fact that you don’t believe me is the true mystery of the universe, the only problem I ever wish to solve. _

 

_ Even after everything you have been through, you still refuse to give up. I hope you can share that strength with me because some days everything seems so hard and you are the only thing holding me together.  _

 

_ Every word you’ve ever whispered in my ear has been written down in the pages of my heart and my only wish is that the pen never runs out of ink. _

 

“There are words that I hate.” She scrunches up her nose at the thought of them, the few combinations of letters which cause her to see red and make everything seem a little hazy. Words which wake up the butterfly in her stomach and invite all its friends to create a storm of anxiety in a place where she can’t silence it. 

 

“Which ones?”

 

_ Lonely; the only word to describe the way I felt when I was trapped in that white monstrosity I used to call a home until you swept me off my feet and showed me that a home doesn’t have four walls and a wooden staircase, it has a grey beanie in the shape of a crown and that sherpa jacket you pretend not to notice when I steal. _

 

_ Expectations; impossible to live up to and always drilled into the back of my mind. Sit straight. Smile politely and laugh when expected. Calories, calories, calories. The little mantras that were burned into my brain and are only just starting to get replaced by your gentle tone and the soft kisses you scatter across my skin when the voices in my head come out to play. _

 

_ Perfect; those two syllables that bring tears to my eyes and years of repressed memories to the front of my mind. This is a secret you already know from the few times you’ve tried to say it and had to witness me slink away into my shell. I know you mean well but the damage was done long before you kissed me inside my pastel prison and the scars will last long after we’ve left this earth.  _

 

“Cyst.” The word is said through a sigh and she feels his chest shake in a pattern she knows to be a chuckle. He presses his lips to her hair, holding them for a beat before resting his cheek against the crown of her head. His beanie slips off at the action and he lets it falls, moving closer to her as he watches the grey woolen hat drop onto the metal roof and sit motionless while their thoughts float through the space around it. 

 

“What other words?” It’s supposed to come out at a normal volume but instead he mumbles it into her hair, placing kiss after her kiss against her head as he waits for her to reply. 

  
  


_ Every single word that was uttered in that godforsaken town before we climbed into your truck and left it all behind. Every word yelled in my mother’s voice before you whispered them in my ear late at night, turning them from a pile of bricks into spun gold. I’ll never be able to thank you enough for transforming them into something beautiful when I could only see them as ugly.  _

 

“Pulse. Mucus. Needle. Penetrate. Slippery. It’s a never ending list really.”  _ Because I’ll never let you hear the end of it.  _ He chuckled again as his lips moved from the crown of her head, peppering a trail of kisses all the way down to the shell of her ear before he couldn’t reach any further and had to lie back down. 

 

“Do you want to know another secret?” He finally managed to achieve a normal volume, startling Betty slightly as she felt the vibrations of his voice rumble through his chest. She nodded anyway, fingers moving slowly across his stomach as she traced the constellations she could see overhead. Her touch was as light as a feather and Jughead had to try not to squirm at the sensation. 

 

_ Everytime you look at me I feel whole again, as if redemption can be found in your eyes and a simple look can shower it on whoever you please. I will thank every god in the heavens until my dying breath that you always choose me.  _

 

_ The sound of your voice is the only thing strong enough to silence the bitter thoughts which crowd my nightmares. You truly are my saving grace, in every way imaginable. _

 

_ The only place I’ve ever been able to call home is you. Whenever I’m with you this indescribable sense of calmness floods through me and there is no other place, not in any of the books I read or the movies I watch or the far away places which fill my wistful thoughts, that I’d rather be. _

 

“I don’t know any constellations.” Betty shifted her head and looked up at him, a mixture of emotions on her face. Shock at his confession and then a tiny bit of something else at just how damn good he looked lying there in the starlight and looking up at the moon.

 

“That one there is Orion.” She held her arm up and slowly joined the dots on the patterns in the sky. It looked like the model spacecraft they’d built during a rainy lunchtime in grade school out of plastics straws and cellotape. As soon as they’d gotten home they raced up to Jughead’s treehouse and thrown it off the side countless times as they tried to get it to land on the popsicle sticks they had glued on for that very purpose. 

 

“And over there is Scorpius.” Her finger moved to trace the new constellation, the one that reminded her of the flowers he’d given her before the school dance in junior year. He’d shown up on her doorstep with a nervous smile on his face and a drooping bouquet in his hands, claiming he didn’t realise that flowers wilted so quickly when he bought them the day before. She’d told him she loved them and kissed his cheek, turning his nerves into a grin as she hastily put the flowers into a vase before dashing out the door with him in an attempt to avoid her mother. They walked the whole way to the high school with their hands intertwined and nervous looks over their shoulders, both of them expecting Alice to come storming through the town with a camera and demand photos of them all dressed up.

 

“That long one is Draco. I think it’s my favourite.” Her voice was soft once more as she traced out the pattern, one she knew so well she could probably find it blindfolded. 

 

“What makes it your favourite?” His hand was slowing down as it worked out the tangles in her hair, a sure sign he was getting tired but Betty didn’t want to go to bed. She wanted to stay outside, in the arms of the man she loved and staring up at the stars on the perfect summer’s evening. 

 

_ It’s my favourite because it’s the only good memory I have with my sister. You remember how we read through the entire Harry Potter series in two weeks over the summer holidays one year? Draco was her favourite character and once she found out there was a constellation with the same name we made it our mission to find it. We used to sneak out onto the roof every night and look up at it and make stories up about how it would scare off the other constellations and protect princesses and that sort of thing. That’s the last good memory I have with her before she left.  _

 

“I just like that it’s name means ‘dragon’ in Latin.” They lay in silence for a long while, time once again forgetting about them as the world around them seemed stuck in the same moment, unable to change too drastically for fear of hurting something delicate that no one could quite put a name on. 

 

Despite her attempt to fight it off, Betty’s eyelids keep fluttering close, becoming heavier and heavier the more she tries to fight off their insistence to remain closed. Jughead’s fingers eventually become still, sleep taking over the two of them as they fall asleep under the stars. All of the secrets they have yet to voice are thrown out into the universe, whispered along the gentle breeze and held close by the stars that watch over them.

 

They wake slowly, rising with the dawn and watching as the stars overhead disappear with the encroaching light, taking their secrets with them and leaving the load they carry on their back just that fraction lighter. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I just have a couple of things I wanted to clear up at the end of this story:  
> 1) I have no idea about constellations. I picked three pretty well known ones but I don't know what time of year they're most visible of where they actually are so sorry if my inconsistencies pained some people but they were used purely for the purpose of the story, I'm not trying to educate people about constellations here so sorry.  
> 2) I am just really in love with this story and how it flows. I hope you are too. Please let me know what you think because I love knowing how people interpret my work, especially things slightly floatier like this one :)


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